138 A gorge hook and stout line. Chapt. x. 



them. But a neater arrangement is a common pike gorge 

 hook, hecause there you have the weight neatly stowed 

 away inside your bait; and the hooks are shaped so as to 

 sit closely against the mouth of a bait, and consequently 

 to go comfortably down the throat. Facile est decensus 

 Averni. But when once down it is a case of a vestigia 

 nulla retrorsum." 



Your night line must be a good stout one, and well 

 made fast, for the fish is strong, very strong, and has the 

 whole night to himself to work his wicked will. 



The Mastacemblus is a fisheater, so the more your 

 servants catch, the better for the little Mahseer, the youth- 

 ful Barilius Bakeri, and the unsophisticated young of the 

 other sorts of game fly-taking fish. Encourage them there- 

 fore to go in at them heavily, and show them how to draw 

 the hook home so as to lie neatly against the lips of the 

 bait, and so in fact that it shall offer no obstacle to a fish 

 that gradually swallows your bait head foremost. 



I have never seen Mastacembli lying about the bottom 

 in the demonstrative provokingly lubberly way the English 

 eel does. 



Be wary how you handle him because of the sharp 

 spines on his back. 



The eel proper, Murcena, is to be found in Indian 

 waters, but I cannot remember that I ever had one on 

 a hook, so I will not put one in my book. That honor 

 has been reserved for Mr. Mastacemblus, whose manners 

 and customs have been chronicled above. 



But I see no sport in this style of fishing, and, far 



